


In Memory of Crabdad

by mtjester



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Lusus death mention, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-20
Updated: 2014-05-20
Packaged: 2018-01-25 21:48:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1663619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mtjester/pseuds/mtjester
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the HSWC br1 prompt: "Remember that time Bro made young adult Karkat a crabdad plushie?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Memory of Crabdad

“What the hell is this?” Karkat said, examining the festively wrapped package on the kitchen table. A tag poked out from beneath an enormous bow, and he turned it over. TO KARKAT, it read, FROM BRO. Karkat narrowed his eyes and glanced into the living room, where he knew Bro was playing some stupid human game involving trick boards and idiocy. He jumped when he turned around to find Bro leaning against the table, watching him with a lazy smirk. Karkat scowled. “What the hell is this?” he repeated. “What’s the occasion?”  
  
“Open it and find out.”  
  
Karkat looked down at the package and back up at Bro, whose smirk widened. Rolling his eyes, Karkat ripped the bow off the top of the package and tore off the wrapping paper, trying to seem as disinterested as possible. It was probably something dumb, he told himself. What else would make Bro smirk like that? His fingers lingered over the exposed box for a second, and with a quick glance at Bro, he lifted the lid.  
  
“Are you fucking kidding me.”  
  
Inside the box was a white plushie, sewn carefully to look like his old, dead crab lusus. He stared down, feeling a slight heat rise in his face. “Do you like it?” Bro asked. “I made it myself.”  
  
 _“Why?”_  
  
“My little bro was telling me about your old ma—crab. About all the fights you two used to get into, and how he used to drag shit home for Perigreens’ Eve or whatever. It must suck to go so long without a guardian to cheer you up when your friends are driving you crazy with their antics.”  
  
Karkat reached inside the box and pulled the plushie out. It felt soft and clean, nothing like the carapace exoskeleton of his lusus but nice nonetheless. He shifted it between his hands, examining it. “This isn’t some sort of perverted sex toy in disguise, is it?” he asked. “There’s no weird-ass phallic protrusion jutting out from some otherwise innocent location or any gaping orifices hidden carefully beneath a deceptive plush exterior, right? Because I swear to the hideous horrorterrors of the void that if you gave me a sex puppet shaped like my old lusus—”  
  
“No, dude, what the fuck,” Bro said, suppressing a laugh. “What kind of lecherous old man passes out sex-toy replicas of people’s deceased parents for shits and giggles?”  
  
“You, probably. Have you seen your fucking bedroom?”  
  
“Hey, I’m no old man.”  
  
“Just keep telling yourself lies.”  
  
“Do you like it?” The sincerity of the question interrupted their banter, and to show he was being serious and in no ways ironic, Bro looked at Karkat over his sunglasses, allowing him to see his eyes. Karkat shut his mouth, and the heat rose in his face again. He looked down at the pushie, who red button eyes were nothing like his lusus’s but still adorable.   
  
“Yeah, sure,” he said, glancing up at Bro and looking away quickly in embarrassment. “God knows why you even bothered, it’s not like it’s my fucking wriggling day or anything like that, but...I guess it’s pretty...cute.”  
  
He snuck a glance at Bro, and his heart fluttered at the uncharacteristic genuineness of the delight curling at the very tip of his Strider-esque smirk.  
  
“Good,” Bro said, and in a flash he was standing next to Karkat, arm around his waist. “Put it back in the box for now, though. I’m hankering for some pizza.”

**Author's Note:**

> In all honesty, I imagine Karkat would tear up if anyone ever gave him a gift like that, since he can be kind of a cry baby, but I thought that'd be too silly.


End file.
